SWAT school

APD team thrives under pressure

Sgt. Tim Williams, commander of the SWAT unit of the Amarillo Police Department, said members of the team must have more than a gung-ho attitude to make the grade.

Dealing with stressful situations such as a hostage scene, a standoff or serving a warrant on an armed fugitive requires a special kind of individual, Williams said.

"Our objective is to solve the problem without anybody getting hurt," said Williams, who has served with the tactical unit for 18 years, 10 years as its supervisor.

Williams, 51, said the unit usually can manipulate the situation to a no-harm conclusion.

"The problem is, sometimes the bad guys don't allow us to do that," he said. "Most of the people we get involved with have a propensity for violence and either want to attempt to escape or hurt us."

That's where extensive training and the character of the officers kick in, Williams said.

"The biggest thing is being able to perform under stress. It's solving complex problems without the use of force, if possible," he said.

Cpl. Gary Hamilton, a six-year SWAT veteran, serves on the entry team - the guys who go in first.

"It's different from any other kind of police work," Hamilton said. "Everything we do, we do as an eight-man team. That's what makes the team successful."

Williams said officers can be trained to shoot, "but it's hard to change a man's personality. We look for the quality of the person and we get them trained."

But having the proper personality isn't the only requirement to join the SWAT team.

First, candidates must be APD officers who have ridden patrol duty for a minimum of three years. Then they must score 85 percent on a pistol-shooting course and pass physical training requirements in running, sprints and weight lifting, Williams said.

Members undergo shooting and physical testing on a quarterly basis, he said, and have mandatory training two days a month.

Williams and seven full-time members, who receive the same pay as other APD officers, comprise the unit. Seven other officers ride patrol and make up the alternate program.

The average full-time officer is in his mid-30s and most have served with SWAT for five or six years, Williams said.

Each SWAT officer is a certified firearms instructor, Williams said.

Along with training, the team's typical day consists of "trying to find somebody wanted on a felony warrant and serving search warrants," he said.

Most cases have to do with narcotics, he said, and sometimes the people they deal with are armed.

Such an instance occurred the night of Sept. 8.

The full complement of 15 SWAT officers responded to a residence and positioned themselves to confront an armed man.

"A guy was walking around with a shotgun to his head. He threatened to shoot somebody. He finally just gave up," Williams said.

The situation reminded Williams of his most memorable SWAT encounters: hostage rescues.

"The majority involved a guy who was upset with family members and threatened to kill them. We had to come up with a tactical plan and we had to go in and recover the hostages. We've had several of those," he said.

Williams said no SWAT officer has died in action since the unit formed in 1975.

It takes a close-knit unit, Williams said.

"We know each others' families," he said. "We do things together on and off duty. Some of these guys, I've been on vacation with them and their families.

"There's something about dealing with deadly force situations that brings you closer to them."